February 8th, 2012 – [Kaleme] On the eve of the one year anniversary of the illegal house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, and following the joint letter recently published by the children of Mousavi and Karroubi, , security forces have reportedly threatened to arrest Mousavi’s daughters and one daughter has been banned from activities at the university where she teaches.

Kaleme reports that security forces who have in the past repeatedly threatened Mousavi’s daughters, this time contacted the daughters directly and threatened to arrest them, transfer them to prison or another location where no one will have any news of them. Furthermore, one of Mousavi’s daughters have been banned from activities at the university where she teaches.

No explanation has been provided to date regarding why Mousavi’s daughter has been banned from the university where she teaches. Despite numerous inquiries into the matter, it is unclear who is behind the order to ban Mousavi’s daughter and no one has taken responsibility for the ban. Mousavi’s daughter teaches art at the University of Alzahra. It is worth mentioning that the ban took place without any written notice, but Mousavi’s daughter was deleted from the university’s internet teaching system.

In the past year many of the supporters of the Green movement have been detained and imprisoned and their families have also endured extreme pressure. These pressures have included continued arrest of family members, repeated interrogations, interference with every day activities, threat to their lives, pressure and threat at work, being banned from leaving the country and even being banned from pursuing their careers or professions.

Last year, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi requested a permit from the ruling government for a rally in support of the freedom fighting movements in the Middle East. Their request for a permit was not only denied, but the ruling government went as far as illegally detaining the two companions of the Green movement in their homes. In the past year Mousavi, Karroubi and Rahnavard have been deprived of the basic rights afforded all prisoners in Iran and their families have been denied the right to contact them by phone or to see them in person. They have been isolated, rendered incommunicado, kept in the dark with regards to the condition of their families, told lies and even prevented from attending the funeral of their loved ones.

Their arrest, the ambiguity regarding their location, their well being and the medicines they have been prescribed points to the possibility of dangerous scenarios designed to put their lives at risk.

Although in principle this illegal arrest is similar to all other questionable and illegal arrests that have taken place since 2009; arrests that were merely as the result of the commitment by Green activists and their sense of responsibility towards the challenges facing our nation, what makes it bizarre and unprecedented is the fact that an unjust political conflict has now entered the daily lives of family members of the arrested and detained. It goes without saying that given that Mousavi and Karroubi have repeatedly reiterated that they will remain true to their oath with the people and their family’s insistence to stand by their demand for justice, these type of tactics by the ruling government are fruitless and will lead to nothing more than short term and temporary gains.